August, 2007:

My last week in LA was relatively tranquilo. Chris went back a couple of days into the last week. I used the time to get some shopping and downloading done to equip Andiamo for the next few months. I managed to meet up with my now ex-brother-in-law Craig for a couple of dinners. Tria also proved to be a worthy pal to hangout with. She started getting a bit busier because the new semester at CSUN was starting to kick off (she’s a college professor), so that made our meetings a bit scarcer and shorter towards the end of my stay.

I met up with Angela a couple of nights, which was good fun. We had dinner in Marina del Rey one night, it was so nice to be back in my old turf. Back when I lived in LA, I spent TONS of time at the marina on my first boat “La Dolce Vita”. I find myself missing those days sometimes. She lives close by the marina in Culver City, and she had never really been at the marina. So I took it upon myself to show her around.

Also managed to meet up with Teresa, who’d become a good pal since we met on Myspace last year. She’s going through a few tribulations with her life, but still manages to handle everything with a smile and great aplomb.

My sister Judy and her kids got back on the 26th, and it was nice to see them again. It didn’t feel like they were gone for about 3 weeks, but indeed they had. They had an amazing time in Italy and told me all about it. Judy also took lots of pics and there was much family gossip to get caught up on. I managed to hang out with the kids for some quality time, which is always something I really look forward to. The kids are getting older now, and that means in a few more years, they may be tied up in their “teenage” lives and not be into hanging out with their cool Uncle Tony. Then again, I can try to keep things interesting for them, we’ll see what happens with that.

So, some notable highlights of my LA stint:

1. Meeting up with Eveline, my Bocas buddy, and hitting the food scene around LA

2. Hearing from and meeting back up with Tria, a very cool chica who I met in Bocas, only to find out she lived LITERALLY 2 blocks from Judy’s house.

3. Getting caught up on all my fave LA pleasures, including: In-n-Out; Sushi (lots of it); Jamba Juice; Indie103 radio; Cool LA dive bars in Hollywood, downtown, and Thai Town; watching obnoxious industry types (and laughing alot); driving in LA; the awesome climate; Sunset strip; Melrose; La Cienega; hanging out in Marina del Rey, meeting up with all my LA pals, old and new,

4. The vegas junket with Chris and Miguel, a great long weekend of fun, and healthy debauchery (hehe)…

5. Hanging out in Santa Monica with Chris and Becky, another great pal who’s always a joy to meet up with.

I flew back to Florida a couple of days later. I was only there for a couple of days, so I had to scramble a bit to get the rest of my shopping done, and other stateside stuff that needed to be taken care of. I managed to meet up with Paul and Janet and the kids in Orlando one last time, and a surprise meeting with Jackey, a chica pal I first met up with in Utila when she was down there to do her scuba instructor training. She was in Florida doing some scuba instructing, and met up with me in Orlando on my last night in before flying out. We hit an all you can eat lobster place I know in Orlando and had a great time hanging out.

The flight back to San Jose went off without a hitch, and thanks to GC Mitzy, I got hooked up with a great hotel room for my layover in San Jose. Mitzy talked me into changing my return flight a couple of days so I can meet up with her in San Jose. She won a free trip to Costa Rica from Taca, and she said she had a surprise. Who was I to resist, so I did so, and met her the next day. I was thinking we were going to hang out for a couple days in San Jose and maybe get some poker in. Which we did on the first night she was in.

But then, she hit me with a surprise a 2 day whitewater rafting trip on the Rio Pacuare! Now that was a surprise. So the next morning after she came in, we woke up bright and early to meet the bus that would take us to the whitewater rafting site.

The next 2 days were filled with AWESOME whitewater rafting, ziplining, and staying at an amazing riverside lodge that literally had a rushing waterfall going right through the property. It was good fun, and the people were pretty friendly. And it was a nice side of Costa Rica for me for a change.

After the trip, we had one more night in San Jose, where we played some more poker, I won more money, and ate some nice seafood at a local spot.

When i got back to Bocas, I honestly felt like I’d been gone for 6 months. It was nice to be back on Andiamo, and the cats were pretty relieved too.

I’ll be posting a complete update of my time in the states shortly. Lots have been going on, lots of side trips and road trips, and getting acquainted with friends, old and new. It’s been a really fun time so far.

Back in a bit!

So after a busy (and rather gastronomic) 1st week in LA, Chris flew for a 9 day stint. His time here was going to go off for a roaring start, because we were planning on hitting Vegas along with Miguel, who was coming down the day after he arrived from Fresno. So, the following day, in my rented bone-white PT Cruiser (UGH), we hit the open road.

Being that it was a friday, we wanted to get an early start to beat the weekend onslaught that was sure to slow the I-15 down to a crawl. Despite a bad call from me to get on the 405 instead of the 101, we still made it out of LA and into the high desert in good time. Once we got past Victorville, the rest of the trip was a breeze.

We got to Vegas in time for happy hour. It was typical Vegas hot outside, a dry desert heat I hadn’t felt in quite some time (I hadn’t been to Vegas since 2003). During our drive into town, I was absolutely shocked at all the new towers in the skyline, as well as all the MASSIVE construction going on all up and down the strip! Vegas has always been sensory overload for me, don’t get me wrong. But now, holy shit! This place has become aboslutely, insanely MASSIVE.

We checked into our room at the Mirage. Being quite the veteran player at the Mirage for years, I built up quite a lot of comp points with the players club. But, and this kinda hurt, since I hadn’t played there, in about 4 years, all my points were voided! So for the first time in a LONG time, we had to pay for our hotel and meals in Vegas. Oh well, that’s what happens when you fall out of the loop.

After a slow first night, we hit the town on Saturday. My brother actually told me about a friend of ours, James, who lives out in Vegas now and works at the MGM Grand. I had his number, so I gave him a call. He was at work at the show he manages, and invited us over for the show. We took him up on that immediately. The show is the Crazy Horse Revue, which is based on the popular Paris Burlesque show. So we weren’t about to turn that down.

We met James at the front entrance of the theatre, and he got us a great table just off the stage. The show was really entertaining (a surprise for me, because I never thought I’d go to one of these), and the dancers were frickin HOT, but hey, the show was entertaining.

After the show, we met up with James at a casino bar for some drinks, and continued our nighttime trek from there. I wanted to get some poker in, so I suggested we check our Harrahs poker room. By that time, Chris was starting to feel some pain in his knee and decided to call it a night. Miguel went along with him, so it was just me and poker the rest of the night.

And what a night it was. In less than 2 hours, I won over $300 playing at Harrah’s. Then, I walked over to Mirage’s poker room, and they had a no-limit table open, so I jumped in. In less than an hour, I won another $450. Outstanding.

The next morning, we got some breakfast, and I decided to play another round. I lost $100 but it was time to go, and I was still way ahead. It was nice to see that I can still hold my own on the tables in Vegas, even after such a long absence.

We hit the road back to LA Sunday afternoon, and made it back just before sunset. Miguel didn’t have to be at work until the next night, so he stayed over and we went and got some drinks in Hollywood. Next morning after breakfast, we saw Miguel off.

The rest of the week was riddled with lunches and dinners with several of my LA friends, both old and new. We also met up with Tria one night for a really nice night out at the CityWalk, and then Hollywood after that. Tria is a budding DJ, and took us to a cool lounge that she sometimes spins at. It was a really cool place right off Vine. We hung out there the rest of the night until Chris got tired and decided it was time for us to go.

We also caught a movie, met up with Becky in Santa Monica for sushi and drinks. We also met up with a friend Angela who I’d only talked with online via Myspace for lunch. At the end of the week, Miguel came back to LA along with Arcelia and his son Chris. We spent a day up at the Getty Center on Chris’ last day in LA. The weather was perfect, and the views were awesome. We got Chris to the airport in time, and saw him off. Miguel’s brood spent the night, and headed back the next day.

So the visit’s been fun and productive so far, and I have managed to keep the pets alive with nary any issues, not counting when I had to break into the garage through the back window, and when Blue, one of the cats ran off and was missing for a day. Otherwise, everything has been cool so far.

To be continued…

Being back in the states is always a pleasure and a pain. A pleasure because it’s always good to see my friends and family again. Particularly the kids, who seem to be growing faster and faster each year. Also because I get to enjoy all the things I really like about the good ol’ USA, like certain foods (read SUSHI), beverages (read JAMBA JUICE), and other vices… (read In-n-Out Burgers).

But it’s also a bit of a pain because I have to deal with the stuff I don’t like to see. Like certain people’s inability to move forward and progress with their lives in at least some way. Or the rising tide of mindless consumerism that seems to basically hold the USA hostage. Believe me, when you’re not around it day in and day out, you really do see it, and it ain’t pretty. Oh, and, believe it or not, those goddamn pharmaceutical commercials that just continues to take over all media! Have you seen the “Viva Viagra” one??? What the hell is going on? It just amazes me how there is no way you can get away from it.

Anyway after a couple of days in Florida, I jetted off to LA, where I met up with my sister Judy and her kids. She was preparing to head to Italy for a 3-week vacation with the kids in tow. And I was going to hold down the fort. Which mainly consisted of keeping her 2 dogs and cats alive. I arrived the night before they left, so we couldn’t spend too much time together, but it was ok, and the kids were really excited about the trip.

Getting settled into LA life for the next few weeks seemed really easy. I had plenty of friends to meet up with. One friend, Becky, who lives in LA, but we met in Belize, met up with me at a great hotel restaurant on Sunset and the 405 called “West”. It was on the top floor with a great view of the westside. We had a nice dinner and drinks there, and got caught up. Becky had just gotten back from 3 weeks in Africa, and she told me all about it. Now I really want to go to Africa too. ;P

Interestingly, Eveline, my dutch chica pal from Bocas was in town visiting a friend of hers who works for KLM. So a couple of days after I arrived, she called me. Her friend had already left and she had checked out.
She had a few days left in LA, so I went and got her in Manhattan Beach. The we started in earnest a “food tour” we had discussed doing when we were still in Bocas. This meant covering all kinds of cuisine we both like that’s everywhere in LA, but not quite so in Central America.

So the first night, we met up with my now ex-brother-in-law Craig for some great Thai food in the valley. Over the next few days, we had great Italian, Sushi, more sushi, late-night grub in Hollywood, and more. We also headed down to Long Beach and San Diego to visit friends of hers, which was fun, if not alot of late night driving.

I also got a call from a really cool chica named Tria. I met her in Bocas a good week before I left for this trip. And alas, another small world moment came to be when we discussed how I used to live in LA, and she still does. Turns out that not only did she live in the valley, but she lived EXACTLY two blocks from my sister Judy’s house. So that was too bizarre, and we made plans to meet up for dinner and drinks in LA when she got back from her vacation. I told her I’d leave my info at her hotel before leaving if I didn’t run into her again. I did so but wasn’t sure if she’d ever get it. Well, she did, and she called me and we met up a few times considering she was literally down the street. Love it when that happens!

Eveline left a few days into the first week, and I was left to fend for myself again. Well, not really, since Chris was due to fly in from Florida a couple of days later.

Week 2 digest coming up…